A Lesson in Teamwork
by Kiyoshi Kitana
Summary: Sasuke x Naruto, eventually. Kakashi senses that unless Sasuke and Naruto learn what it really means to work together, Team 7 will eventually fall apart at the seams. He gives them an assignment that will teach them more than they realize.
1. Of Great Minds and Grand Ideas

**Title:** A Lesson in Teamwork, Chapter 1

**Author:** Kitana

**Warnings: **PG, will eventually reach NC-17. Eventually. Sasuke x Naruto.

**Summary:** Kakashi senses that unless Sasuke and Naruto learn what it really means to work together, Team 7 will eventually fall apart at the seams. He gives them an assignment that will teach the two more than they realize.

* * *

"Sakura, you're, rather fortunately, exempt from this assignment."

Though Sakura bounced on her toes, obviously pleased, those were the last words either Naruto or Sasuke expected to hear from Kakashi. As much as he pressed teamwork, and the importance thereof, onto the three of them, why would he suddenly split them up?

"What? Kaka-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed, his finger pointed accusatorily at the older man. "I don't even know what the 'assignment' is yet, but how come Sakura-chan isn't in it?!"

"Sakura gave the best definition of teamwork, Naruto," Kakashi replied with a simple shrug.

Sasuke wore an expression of indifference. He hadn't even bothered to answer the question. He tapped his foot impatiently. Whatever. He had better things to do than listen to Naruto haggle his way out of another assignment that would probably be done in an hour.

"Also," Kakashi's voice gave off the aura of distance and complete disinterest, yet there was an obvious mirth hidden there that only the three genin knew of. And that was only because they'd been around Kakashi long enough to tell the difference. "Since you seem to be so curious, Naruto, your assignment is this:

Naruto and Sakura leaned in close to the older man.

"You and Sasuke are to spend three days together, in the place of my choosing, completely isolated from everyone else. There, you two will either find the proper meaning of teamwork, or you can quit being shinobi."

The volume with which Naruto screeched his indignity made even Kakashi wince visibly. "You expect me to spend three days alone with _that_ bastard?! Kaka-sensei, you're kidding, right? Right?"

Naruto looked back and forth between Sakura, who suddenly looked crestfallen, to Sasuke, who he wanted to punch for not even _reacting_.

"No," was Kakashi plain, flat answer.

"He's right to protest for once, you know," Sasuke finally, slowly added, aiming a disbelieving glare at the silver-haired man. "One of us wouldn't make it back out alive." Most likely Naruto, if Sasuke had to choose.

Kakashi hummed as he crossed his arms over his chest, making a show of pretending to consider Sasuke and Naruto's reluctance. He studied the two boys for a moment, before coming to a conclusion. He squatted down to Sasuke and Naruto's level, clasping a hand of both of their shoulders. The jounin stared them straight in the eye, his smile thankfully obscured by the mask over his face.

"Alright, how about this," he started, infinitely amused when Naruto perked up. "You both spend a week together, instead?"

Sasuke sputtered, aghast. Naruto laughed uncertainly. Neither of them could believe it.

This had to be the worst practical joke in the history of Konoha.

* * *

Once Sasuke and Naruto were allowed to pack a few things from their respective homes, it had only taken Kakashi about twenty minutes to lead them to the outskirts of Konoha. It was another five minute walk through a denser area of forest, before the three came upon a mid-sized clearing with a fairly small house in the middle.

It was about an hour past noon, and the sun was high in the sky, allowing Sasuke and Naruto to both get a good look at the house. Though quite weather-worn, the house looked of minimalist design. If Sasuke were to actually take a look at the details, rather than scowl disdainfully and pretend that the building wasn't there, the house would have proved elegant in a simplistic way. With some work, it would have been even more so.

"Here we are," Kakashi said offhandedly, gesturing towards the paper sliding door. "How do you like it?"

"It's perfect," Sasuke replied sarcastically, emphasizing his displeasure with a perfect monotone.

As Naruto's eyes swept over the house, surveying in depth the place he and Sasuke were to live together for the next week, he couldn't help but grin. It would be a challenge, trying to deal with Sasuke and his stick-in-the-mud syndrome around the clock, but not one he couldn't face and conquer. Kakashi told them that they could either learn to work together, or face the prospect of no longer being shinobi. Naruto didn't figure that the latter was even an option, and if Sasuke's begrudging compliance was any indicator, the dark-haired boy didn't think so either.

However, as it was, neither one of them were particularly eager to take the first step into the house.

"Are either of you going to move?" Kakashi asked with some humour. "I would suggest that you get acquainted with the inside of the house, because there is quite a lot for you to do once you have."

Naruto was the first to question, raising blue eyes to stare at dark ones. "What do you mean, 'a lot to do'? I thought all we had to do was get along!"

"Of course not," Kakashi said, reaching into one of his pockets. Out of it he pulled a small scroll, handing it to Naruto with infuriating amusement. "That's your list of duties."

Sasuke's sigh was one of long-suffering. Someone must obviously have it out for him. "Why must you ask so many questions, dumbass?"

"Shut up," the blonde muttered, unraveling the scroll. The list practically fell down to his feet. Before Naruto could turn back to Kakashi to protest some more, the jounin was gone with a chuckle and a farewell wave. Rolling up the scroll, Naruto suddenly found himself having trouble squelching the sheer annoyance bubbling up inside of him. Yet, as life would have it, Sasuke interrupted him before he had the chance to scream out his frustration over his unpredictable sensei.

"You are well aware that this is your fault, right?"

Naruto turned to Sasuke slowly, gritting his teeth irritably. They hadn't been out of Kakashi's presence more than five minutes, and Sasuke was already being a bastard. "Maybe if you had answered the question, instead of acting like the stick up your ass is in your throat too, we wouldn't be here!"

Sasuke didn't even bother replying, opting instead to step up the few stairs to the house and push the sliding door aside. Naruto watched as Sasuke disappeared inside. At least he didn't have to think up another comeback. Grumbling in irritation, Naruto followed the young Uchiha inside, stopping in his tracks when he passed the threshold.

The entire front room and the side room as well, Naruto noticed as he stepped past Sasuke, were a mess. From what he could see through the sunlight filtering in through half-closed blinds, the minimal furniture — a couch, a bookshelf, and a table — were coated in a thick layer of dust. Naruto heard Sasuke sneeze and mutter behind him as the boy opened up the blinds completely.

"This place isn't even livable," Sasuke said with some derision, wiping his finger along a dust-caked windowsill.

Naruto unraveled the scroll Kakashi had given him not fifteen minutes earlier, skimming over the messy handwriting. Clean the floors? Fix the sink? Each task on the scroll seemed increasingly time-consuming, and increasingly pointless. He stopped half-way. _Paint the house?_ How the _hell_ would they paint the house with no paint?

"I guess we're supposed to make it livable," Naruto replied after some time, tossing the scroll to the dark-haired boy, who caught it deftly. He then shrugged his backpack off of his shoulders, letting it drop to the floor and fanning away the dust that rose from impact.

Reading over the scroll, Sasuke pressed a palm to his forehead as if to stave off an oncoming headache. "Okay, whatever. Let's just start."

"Start? Where? _How?_" Naruto said, looking around. As much as he loathed having to clean, the thick dust was starting to make his nose itch. There wasn't even a broom in sight. "Argh!"

Sasuke dropped his own backpack next to Naruto's, finding himself vaguely amused at Naruto's frustration as the blonde rummaged through his own bag for _something_. It served him right for asking so many questions. Not that he himself deserved such a tedious assignment, but since he couldn't avoid it, he would manage. Deciding to leave Naruto to his own devices for a while, Sasuke looked to the left, then to the right. There was only one door leading to another room, and from the outside, the house appeared to be two-storied. So, there must be some stairs around somewhere.

Sasuke chose the only door in the room. "I'm going to check upstairs," he told Naruto, though he doubted he had been heard.

He pushed the next door aside, grimacing when a spray of dust met him fully in the face. He coughed a little and wiped his eyes; there was one window in this room, off to his right, and Sasuke opened it to let some light in. There were multiple cabinets, a stove, and a small refrigerator surrounding the window, and parallel to the door he'd entered was an alcove and the staircase he figured would lead up to the second floor.

Idly, Sasuke checked the cabinets more out of wariness than any real curiosity, and was surprised to find there that was actually food. Food that wasn't expired or even dusty. That, Sasuke noted, was obviously Kakashi's doing. That was probably the only help he and Naruto would get from the man.

Sasuke closed the cabinet as he looked towards the staircase. He trotted over the staircase, testing the first step for any weakness. It seemed sturdy and firm under his feet, if not a little bit creaky. He took each stair one by one, stepping in the middle to distribute his weight, just in case…

Naruto looked up from his bag, startled, when he heard Sasuke's pained yell. The blonde left the contents of his bag scattered all over the dusty floor, hopping up to sprint in the direction of Sasuke's stream of colourful curses.

"Sasuke, what's…?" Naruto said, his words stopping short midway upon seeing the predicament the young Uchiha had gotten himself into. Though it would surely seal his fate with the dark-haired boy later, Naruto couldn't stop the laughter rising in his throat. Naruto had to hold his sides to keep himself standing upright, and he slowly choked out:

"Sasuke, Sasuke, you're…,"

In which Sasuke finished irritably, "…Stuck in the stairs, I _know_."

Sasuke had made it halfway up the staircase, and was pretty sure that the stairs were sturdy after checking five or six of them. If the bottom stairs weren't decaying, there was nothing to worry about, right? Right, so he told himself; but as he sat — or hung, whatever — with his entire right leg through one step, Sasuke had the distinct feeling that things would only get worse from then on out.

"Would you stop laughing and _help_ me, damnit?" he ground out, managing to make Naruto degenerate into another fit of giggles.

"Okay, okay, hold on," Naruto said between snickers, climbing up a few of the decent stairs and reaching his hand out to Sasuke.

It took a few good pulls to dislodge Sasuke's leg from the stair, and the last tug brought Sasuke out with such force that both he and Naruto went tumbling back down the few stairs in a crumpled heap of a mess.

Naruto groaned at Sasuke's weight on top of him — the pale boy was definitely no featherweight — and tried to disentangle himself. Naruto breathed a lungful of dusty air when Sasuke rolled off to the side of him and sat up, rubbing his shoulder.

Soon after, Naruto stood, shaking off some of the dust. "Congratulations, Sasuke, you broke the stairs."

Sasuke tried to resist the urge to roll his eyes at Naruto. Really, he did. Instead, he focused on the task at hand. A good hour had already passed and neither of them even knew what the rest of the house looked like.

"Assuming that this whole house is falling apart, we can't explore separately," he said, more to himself than Naruto. He glanced at the blonde, then the dreaded stairs. "I'm going to try going upstairs again; you just have to come with me."

"No way! There's no way in hell _I'm_ going to be stupid enough to get myself stuck in the stairs!"

Ten minutes later, pressed uncomfortably close to the wall and three-quarters of the way back up the stairs, Naruto found that he really didn't have a choice in the matter. By taking one side of the staircase and Sasuke taking the other end, they managed to balance the stairs enough to make it up safely.

It was just as dim at the top of the stairs as it was at the bottom of the stairs and the landing at the top of the stairs served as the only bit of hallway there was. To the left was what Sasuke would say was obviously the bathroom, and to the right, he assumed it was a bedroom. The Uchiha led the way into the bedroom, pushing the door aside. It was sparse inside of there too, with one bed, two blankets, and a basket. Never mind the clutter of cleaning supplies in the corner.

There was a collective groan as things started to make sense.

However, neither Naruto nor Sasuke were looking forward to the work that had to be done. And they had to get those mops and dusters downstairs first.

* * *

Three hours and a lot of bickering later, Sasuke and Naruto had managed to clear out the front room and the kitchen. Sasuke leaned against a nearby wall, wet mop still in hand, looking over the room in a glazed way. He couldn't remember having to clean so much in his _life_. Naruto, on the other hand, looked about ready to pass out with the way he was doubled over.

Naruto stretched up, winced, and then patted his stomach. "I could eat the Ichiraku out of business right about now."

Mildly amused, Sasuke snorted in reply. "There's food in the cabinets."

There was a flash of orange as Naruto dashed to the cabinet. The door swung wide as he leaned up on his tiptoes to push various cans and jars around with increasing insistence.

"I don't know how to cook any of this!" the blonde finally wailed, disheartened by the complete lack of anything quickly edible. He pushed more a few more jars around, coming upon a container which, upon opening, thankfully held rice. Naruto did a mental back flip. He could vaguely remember Sakura's instructions for cooking decent rice; what harm could come from trying?

Sasuke watched as Naruto seemed to cheer up considerably upon discovering the container of rice. Sasuke had to admit that he was hungry as well, but hunger was warring with fatigue and in the end, Sasuke opted to watch Naruto bustle around the small kitchen. He almost looked feminine with the way he tapped this and checked that. Sasuke found himself more amused with that thought than he'd been with anything all day.

It took what seemed like forever for the water in the old sink to run clear again, and when it finally did, it took another stretch of forever to find a pot that wasn't warped beyond recognition. Filling the pot up with water, Naruto set it on the stove, hoping that at least something — like the stove lighting properly, or the rice not sticking and burning or being undercooked — would work out to his favour.

Unfortunately for the blonde, it seemed that the stove was dead-set against lighting. He prodded at the buttons, even looked inside the oven, just to find that it would need to be lit manually before it would ever work again. Naruto grumbled in hunger-induced frustration before turning to Sasuke, eyeing the dark-haired boy warily. He had a sudden idea!

…but Sasuke would probably eat _him_ for dinner for asking.

"Um, Sasuke," Naruto started, grinning his brightest, off-setting smile.

Sasuke's eyes slid slowly towards Naruto, and he raised an eyebrow at Naruto's expression. "What, dobe?"

"I'm completely serious when I say this, and I'm really hungry right now so I don't want to fight, but," Naruto continued, taking in a deep breath, ruffling his hair idly. His next words were strung together in the effort to get them out as fast as possible. "Do you think you could use your fire jutsu to light the stove?"

The stretch of silence after Naruto spoke was awkward, and it increased his apprehension. Sasuke simply stared at him, rather incredulously, before a small smirk played across his lips. He pushed himself away from the wall, setting his mop aside.

"You really _are_ pathetic," he scoffed, striding over to the stove.

Finally, some food! Naruto thought, watching as Sasuke tilted the top of the stove up. He'd seen Sasuke's fire jutsu probably a thousand times over by now, but the same question never failed to plague him.

"Do you ever burn your tongue?"

Sasuke looked up. "What?"

"I said," Naruto repeated, grinning. The idea of the 'genius' Uchiha blistering himself from practicing his jutsu was too funny. He had to know. "Do you ever burn your tongue?"

"Idiot," Sasuke said simply.

That probably meant yes, Naruto figured, but he knew it was unlikely Sasuke would ever admit it.

It took Naruto longer than he anticipated to prepare the rice (he didn't remember Sakura saying it took a whole half hour), but he was hungry enough that even if the dish didn't come out perfectly, he would eat it anyway. Naruto reluctantly passed a bowl to Sasuke — who had annoyingly chided him repeatedly about stirring the rice; what did _he_ know, anyway? — and they ate in relative silence.

Naruto yawned between bites, pointedly ignoring Sasuke's snide comments about how horrible the rice had turned out. Yet, Sasuke was done with his bowl minutes before Naruto, and dropped his bowl in the sink. He glanced at Naruto over his shoulder. The blonde seemed to be falling asleep in his rice.

Sasuke wanted to leave him there and claim the bed in the room for himself, but he couldn't even walk up the stairs by himself. With a laborious sigh, he shook Naruto awake.

"Come on," he said in the most exasperated tone he could muster. "I can't go upstairs without you."

If Sasuke were to put any real thought into it, he would probably find a way to blame Kakashi for the predicament with the stairs as well. It seemed like everything inside of the house was set up purposely so that he and Naruto would have to do things together. It was beyond annoying for Sasuke, who prided himself on being independent, but instead to the point of being downright inconveniencing.

Sasuke groaned inwardly at the pace with which Naruto moved. The blonde was like an elderly zombie, and Sasuke thought that they would never get up the stairs. Naruto woke up some when they came to the bedroom, sleepily pushing past Sasuke to flop on the bed and snuggle under both covers.

Sasuke couldn't even find the voice to protest. With a growl, he stomped over to the bed, pushing Naruto out of it with a loud thud.

"Hey!" Naruto squeaked drowsily, rubbing his arm. "What the hell?!"

"_I'm_ sleeping there, dobe," Sasuke said matter-of-factly. He had a look that practically said 'I dare you to disagree' as he sat on the bed, bouncing a little to test it.

It...

Sasuke bounced again.

It wasn't that bad. A little more soft and worn than he cared for, but it would do. Sasuke didn't get much of a chance to get comfortable and appreciate the bed before Naruto was climbing back into it, scooting him over until he was at the edge of the bed.

"Bastard!" Naruto exclaimed with a huff. "I'm not letting you have it!"

Sasuke pressed back, and soon, both boys were pushing back and forth, trying to get the other to fall off of the small bed. Naruto wouldn't be kicked off twice; it seemed to Sasuke like he'd rooted himself into the sheets of the bed or _something_ and Sasuke pressed a palm to his forehead.

"Fine," he finally acquiesced, snatching one of the blankets from Naruto's clutches. If Naruto wouldn't let him have it, and he couldn't dislodge the idiot, they'd damn well have to share.

Yuck.

Share.

Sasuke gave one last good push at Naruto and wrapped himself up in the blanket he'd stolen. Naruto looked over his shoulder, silently sticking his tongue out at Sasuke, before purposely bumping the prissy Uchiha again.

Sasuke's last thoughts before dropping off into slumber were that somehow, someway, Kakashi would definitely pay in the worst way he could think of.


	2. Easier Said, Claimed the Wise Man

**Title:** A Lesson in Teamwork, Chapter 2: Easier Said than Done, Claimed the Wise Man

**Author:** Kitana

**Warnings: **PG, will eventually reach NC-17. Eventually. Sasuke x Naruto.

**Summary:** Kakashi senses that unless Sasuke and Naruto learn what it really means to work together, Team 7 will eventually fall apart at the seams. He gives them an assignment that will teach the two more than they realize.

**Author's Note: **I used to think I was very good at physical fight scenes, but now … I realize I'm not. XD; Sorry. This chapter is also wonky and very transitional, so, uh, don't spork the hell out of me? ;

* * *

There was barely light in the bedroom when Sasuke woke up, aching and cramped from a night of trying to stay as far away from Naruto and his irritatingly loud snores as humanly possible without falling to the floor. The blonde was a wild sleeper, and Naruto had unintentionally draped himself across Sasuke more times than Sasuke cared to count.

Thankfully, Naruto's snores had tapered off into a mild, purring-like sound. With that, perhaps Sasuke could have something akin to a peaceful morning.

Then again, as Sasuke stood up and stretched, feeling various muscles protest to the movement, a morning with Naruto in the vicinity could never turn out to be anything near peaceful. He grabbed his knapsack and teetered on sleepy legs across the hallway to the bathroom. Opening the only window to let some of the stale house air out, Sasuke turned towards the shower. Aggravatingly enough, there wasn't a curtain on the shower rack.

Though the chances of Naruto waking up and walking in on him were slim, Sasuke still found himself trying to latch the lock on the door. It was a bit rusty and only slid halfway across, but it was good enough for Sasuke. He turned the tap on high, wriggling out of his shirt as the water transitioned from a tarnished reddish-brown to a healthy clear. His pants came next as he checked the water for the proper temperature, and he dug around his knapsack for soap.

Sasuke stepped into the shower tentatively. The warm water, albeit slightly harder than he was used to, had a soothing effect on him. The irritation pent up in his body slowly faded, along with the dull pain of sleeping in an awkward position. He closed his eyes and sighed, letting the water trickle through his hair and down his shoulders.

If he thought about it long enough, Sasuke was sure he could find a loophole in Kakashi's 'assignment' that would allow him to, if not get out of it entirely, spend less time cooped up with Naruto. He rubbed the soap between his hands idly, trying to unravel what exactly had been on Kakashi's mind. Teamwork was obviously work done with a team; that was something Sasuke had already reluctantly learned how to do.

However, Sasuke didn't see how spending a week alone with Naruto would do anything to change their attitudes towards each other. Sasuke couldn't stand Naruto, and for what it was worth and as far as he knew, Naruto couldn't stand him back. He brought the soap to his hair, scrubbing in dissatisfaction. It just didn't make sense! Not that Kakashi made a whole lot of sense to begin with, Sasuke mused.

Minutes ticked by, and Sasuke let his guard down some, ducking his head back under the spray of the shower to wash away soap suds. With one last rinse, he shut off the tap, stepping carefully out of the shower. Sasuke listened for any hint of Naruto's footsteps as he toweled himself off, and heard nothing. Excellent. Sasuke smirked wryly to himself; he had felt like Shikamaru just then, determining whether his shower was either a success or a failure.

Sasuke couldn't explain why, but he had always put his clothes in the same order that he had taken them off in. If his pants were first to come off, they were the first to go one. In this case, his shirt went on first. And he had just fished out a clean shirt, shaking it for wrinkles, when the bathroom door rattled.

"Hey! Stupid door!"

Sasuke struggled to get his shirt over his head. Naruto's footfalls were obviously quieter than Sasuke had anticipated. Goddamn his bad luck! "Naruto, _wait_!"

The door swung open wide, just as Sasuke managed to get one arm through his shirt. Naruto stopped short, stunned into a wide-eyed silence. A blush slowly etched its way across his face, and before Sasuke could say anything, Naruto turned on his heel and bolted out of the door, shoving it closed and leaning against it.

He pressed his palms to his eyes, attempting to dispel the image of Sasuke's nakedness from his mind to no avail. All Naruto had wanted to do was empty his bladder, not get an eyeful of the pale Uchiha. He groaned. He had five more days, minus this one, to spend with Sasuke, and just saw the _last_ thing he had ever planned to see.

Not that it was a bad view, but it was Sasuke, and well, Sasuke was … Naruto rubbed his cheeks next, trying to dismiss the embarrassed flush. The more he thought about it, the worse his body's reactions became, and Naruto shifted uncomfortably against the door.

Wait.

Why was he still even thinking about it?! Sasuke was a bastard of the most maddening sort, that's what he was! Nothing more, nothing less. And he was probably more embarrassed by the turn of events than Naruto himself. Naruto snickered. It served him right.

There was a sharp rap on the door and it rattled against his back. "Dobe, let me out," Naruto heard Sasuke say with some impatience.

Naruto pushed away from the door, deliberately turning the other way so that Sasuke wouldn't see the now-faint blush on his cheeks. "You should lock the door next time," Naruto said as Sasuke brushed past him.

"I did," Sasuke snorted. "You were just too stupid to realize it."

Sasuke's reply was met with the slam of the bathroom door and a few familiar insults.

Breakfast went by awkwardly with Naruto avoiding looking at Sasuke for any extended period of time, and after finishing their respective dishes, it was Naruto who pulled out the list of duties Kakashi had given them only a day earlier. He scanned the list again, looking for something simple and that wouldn't exhaust him as much as cleaning did the day before. He still wanted to have enough energy for a few rounds of training and work off whatever this feeling was.

His finger stopped on one of the tasks. "Sasuke, I get the feeling that you were _supposed_ to break the stairs."

Sasuke shook water off of his dish, glancing over his shoulder. "What makes you say that?"

"Because," Naruto said, tapping the paper, "One of our duties is to fix the stairs."

Seconds later, Sasuke snatched up the scroll, staring hard at it. He could feel his eyebrow twitching minutely. What did Kakashi think they were? Carpenters? The dark-haired boy was beginning to feel something suspiciously like contempt for his sensei. He sighed for what seemed to be the millionth time.

"Alright, come on."

As time wore on, it seemed that Kakashi went through great lengths to make things difficult for Sasuke and Naruto. They had to search out each item they needed to repair the staircase. Sasuke had found the box of nails under the kitchen sink, and Naruto had retrieved the hammer from the ledge atop the front door. They had inadvertently bumped heads with each other upon the discovery of the pieces of wood they'd needed.

Naruto placed the wooden board on top of the hole Sasuke left in the step. Not looking back, he held his hand out for hammer, and began whacking away once Sasuke gave it to him.

"Idiot, don't put the nail there," Sasuke said as Naruto prepared to nail what had to be practically the sixth nail on the left side of the step alone. "Put it on the other side."

Naruto rolled his eyes and hammered it in anyway, with extra force for emphasis. "What would a bastard like you know about—"

Naruto's words dissolved into a yelp as the hammer landed on his pinky finger. Instantly, Naruto sucked the wounded digit between his lips, swearing all while the pain gradually ebbed away.

"Shut up," Naruto said sulkily. Even if he couldn't hear it, he knew Sasuke was laughing.

"That's what you get for not paying attention," Sasuke said, frustratingly nonchalant.

"It was your fault for distracting me," Naruto muttered, resisting the urge to turn around and punch the smug boy in the face. "If you're so damn smart, you can finish it yourself."

"If you insist."

Smirking, Sasuke squeezed in next to Naruto and reached for the hammer. Naruto stiffened, and looked over at Sasuke for a brief second, before averting his eyes, battling down an unexpected blush. He couldn't even look at the dark-haired boy without flashes of his previous unclothed state coming back at him.

It was ridiculous; he'd seen gory splashes of blood, paling faces of dead ninja, the works. Indeed, the stuff of nightmares. But he wasn't ever fazed by it. Yet, he gets one glimpse of Sasuke at the wrong time, and it turns out to be the one image he can't replace with something else.

With a grumble and pursed lips, Naruto slipped out and backed away from the stairs, purposely turning his back to Sasuke. "Stupid," he mumbled.

But at least the stairs were sturdy this time.

* * *

Contrary to popular belief, Naruto started off his training sessions with a brief period of meditation. The area around the house seemed endless, so Naruto closed his eyes and let his body feel out the best place to start. He ended up not far from the house, at the bank of a small creek sprinkled with a few trees. He took a deep breath, letting the slight breeze ruffle through his clothes and hair.

Clasping his hands together, he exhaled, and focused. He slowly dug deep inside of himself, dragging up his chakra from low in his belly. Naruto stood completely still for a few moments, letting the chakra build.

Down he pushed his chakra as he stepped off of the bank into the creek. Naruto's feet barely skimmed the top of the water, and he grinned. He was getting better everyday. He pushed up a bit of his chakra into his hands, and with a forward somersault, he hovered over the water on his hands. Technically, he wasn't showing off, because there was no one around to see. Naruto spent a few more minutes balancing chakra back and forth between his feet and hands, before he stepped back onto the bank of the creek.

Now, time for a change of pace, Naruto thought. He turned towards a nearby tree, ready to try something else, and was narrowly missed by a shuriken whizzing by. Naruto spun around, his eyes settling on the pale boy standing only a few feet away, propped up against another tree.

It was a silent challenge, he knew. Naruto had known that when he came out to train that if Sasuke was anywhere nearby it wouldn't be long before the Uchiha would offer him another chance to prove himself. And as it was, it was in Naruto's nature to comply. Naruto yanked the shuriken out of the tree, and Sasuke pushed away from his post. Sasuke was obviously satisfied that he had accepted.

Naruto initiated contact first, throwing that same shuriken back at Sasuke, who countered with another shuriken of his own. Naruto barely dodged Sasuke's punch, catching it and twisting Sasuke's wrist. Sasuke pulled Naruto forward and broke the hold the blonde had on his wrist, alternately elbowing him in the chest.

Naruto grunted — damn sharp elbows — and dropped down to kick at Sasuke's ankles. Knocked off balance, Sasuke caught himself on his hands just in time to spring back up. Naruto tried punching again, and Sasuke dodged that hit too, grabbing the boy's arm to flip and throw him over his shoulder. Naruto landed with a painful thud, and winced.

Sasuke grinned at Naruto as he stood up. The bastard Uchiha was blocking all of his hits, and a little part of Naruto nagged that for _some_ reason, he wasn't putting his all into it. All of Sasuke's touches were electric, that's why, said another part of Naruto's brain, but he firmly silenced them both as he launched himself at Sasuke again.

Sasuke couldn't resist the urge to yawn mockingly. "You're too slow, dobe. Not even worth my time."

He saw Naruto's eyes narrow at the comment, and then Naruto's hands were flying up into a hand seal. Sasuke harrumphed; Naruto didn't give him enough credit if he thought that he couldn't take out a few clones. Sasuke dropped into a crouch, activating his sharingan, hitting each clone as it approached. The Naruto clones were backing Sasuke into a tree. Suddenly, Naruto burst forth, pinning Sasuke to the tree with his full weight, pushing Sasuke's arms up.

Sasuke's hair fell into his eyes as he looked up, his face contorted in the pain of impact. He stared at Naruto as the clones dissipated; the blonde was looking at him strangely, his expression unreadable. Naruto leaned in close, breaking into a grin.

"Who's too slow now, Uchiha?"

Sasuke snorted. "It's not over."

"Yes, it is."

Naruto's heart was beating faster now than it had any time before, even during missions, and he didn't want to listen to his mind's explanations as to why. But his body was one step ahead of him, and before Naruto could stop himself, he was pressing his lips to Sasuke's full, pouty ones. Sasuke's lips were surprisingly soft, only slightly chapped, and …

Sasuke made a noise that Naruto couldn't place and it jolted his split mind and body back together.

Uzumaki, what the hell are you doing?! Naruto screamed at himself suddenly, tearing away from Sasuke, and creating a lengthy gap between himself and the dark-haired boy. Sasuke only stared at him, stunned into silence, completely astonished. Naruto had just… just… kissed him. _Kissed _him, for the love of everything! And he _wasn't_ trying to force half of his left leg down the idiot's throat.

No, Sasuke reflected, he couldn't have if he'd tried.

Because Naruto was no longer anywhere in sight.


End file.
